Department for Transport

Davenport Station: Access

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure step-free access at Davenport station.

Huw Merriman: We are assessing over 300 Access for All nominations for funding beyond 2024, including Davenport station. I hope to announce successful projects later this year.

Heaton Chapel Station: Access

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure step-free access at Heaton Chapel station.

Huw Merriman: I can confirm that Heaton Chapel station will receive a share of £1 million funding, requested by and allocated to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) for minor accessibility improvements and Customer Information Systems through the Access for All programme.

Brinnington Station: Access

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure step-free access at Brinnington Station.

Huw Merriman: The Access for All programme has delivered step free accessible routes at over 200 stations since 2006. I would encourage you to engage with the train operating company to ensure Brinnington is a priority for future rounds of funding.

Avanti West Coast: Standards

Samantha Dixon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what contractual requirements he has placed on the Avanti West Coast train company on the restoration of the frequency of direct train services linking North Wales, Chester and London Euston; and what penalties will be imposed in the event of that operator failing to meet those standards.

Huw Merriman: Avanti West Coast (AWC) shared its recovery plan for the restoration of services prior to the short-term contract extension announced on 7 October. Both the Office of Rail and Road and Network Rail reviewed this plan and were supportive of the proposition, noting its full and successful delivery required trade union co-operation. The Department is monitoring AWC’s delivery, holding it to account as appropriate, and will use all due legal and contractual processes to take action, if any is appropriate to take. On 11 December, Avanti West Coast implemented a timetable that restored the majority of pre-pandemic direct services between North Wales and London via Chester.

Railways: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to improve train services in Kingston upon Hull North constituency.

Huw Merriman: In its December 2022 timetable TransPennine Express introduced direct services from Hull to Liverpool through Manchester, allowing for direct ‘coast to coast’ services and re-establishing a historic rail link between the two port cities. We will take an adaptive approach to investment when considering any future projects as part of the Northern Powerhouse Rail programme – looking at how well current projects are going, and at how demand and economic growth recover. In the meantime, we are investing in the station and associated facilities - the Hull gateline project is ongoing, aimed at specific areas of concern around ticketless travel and anti–social behaviour, and TPE is installing a new train-cleaning facility to improve performance and asset availability.  As well as the above, Hull Trains is an open access operator currently running up to 94 direct services from Hull and the Humber to London every week, providing improved connectivity for communities throughout the region.

Road traffic: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to support the local authority to reduce traffic congestion in Kingston upon Hull.

Mr Richard Holden: The causes of congestion can be systemic, for example increasing population and urbanisation, or more localised, for example network pinch points, inadequate public transport or road works. Measures to combat congestion can be aimed at increasing capacity and / or decreasing demand. Local traffic authorities have a statutory duty under the Traffic Management Act 2004 to manage their networks with the aim of ‘securing the expeditious movement of traffic’. The Department for Transport helps local authorities in achieving this by supporting sustainable alternative modes and providing design and other guidance as well as investment in infrastructure and innovative, data-led solutions. The Government has already made record amounts of funding available to local authorities for investment in active travel schemes since the start of the pandemic. The second statutory Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, published in July 2022, reiterated the Government’s commitment to this important agenda and set out the funding that is projected to be spent on it from 2020/21 to 2024/25. The National Bus Strategy asked that all English Local Transport Authorities outside London publish Bus Service Improvement Plans, setting out local visions for the step-change in bus services that is needed, driven by what passengers and would-be passengers want. We have awarded over £1 billion to deliver service improvements, bus priority and ambitious fares initiatives. The Government continues to invest in new technologies and the use of data to better manage road networks and provide accurate data about events such as congestion, to road users. For example, the department has invested several million pounds in creating ‘Street Manager’, a data platform which helps highway authorities and utility companies to plan and co-ordinate their road works.

Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Facilities

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure adequate toilet and washing facilities for HGV drivers.

Mr Richard Holden: On 24 November Transport Minister launched the HGV parking and driver welfare grant-scheme.The Department will be investing £32.5 million match-funding to assist operators to improve HGV parking and facilities. This is in addition to the previously announced £20m National Highways match-funding.These funding schemes are going towards supporting lorry parking operators to make improvements such as enhancing security, showers, toilets and eating facilities as well as possibly increasing spaces for lorry drivers.

Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of savings to the public purse from the abolition of paper vehicle tax discs since their removal in 2014.

Mr Richard Holden: In the first full financial year 2015-16 the actual saving to the public purse from the abolition of the paper vehicle licence was £8.9 million. In the financial year 2016-17 the actual saving was £8.5 million. This saving was anticipated to be a recurring annual figure.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Members: Correspondence

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he will respond to the correspondence of 1 November 2022 from the hon. Member for Easington on the Office of Life Sciences and the support for domestic-based generic pharmaceutical manufacturers.

George Freeman: The Department has been unable to confirm receipt of the hon. Member’s correspondence of 1 November 2022 on the Office of Life Sciences and the support for domestic-based generic pharmaceutical manufacturers.   Please resubmit the correspondence to the Department and a response will be expedited for the hon. Member.

Software: Intellectual Property

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department is taking steps to help prevent intellectual property (a) theft and (b) infringement by (i) artificial intelligence and (ii) other products and software with machine learning capabilities.

George Freeman: The Government takes the infringement of intellectual property rights seriously, and as the lead agency the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) recognises the importance of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning both for their potential infringing uses, as well as the tools they may provide to assist in the enforcement of IP rights. To better understand this emerging area of technology, the IPO has commissioned and will shortly publish a report examining whether and how AI can be used to track and trace Intellectual Property infringing goods, as well as assessing the resulting money flows and the potential use of AI by those infringing IPR.

Business: Disease Control

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to help protect industry from potential risks posed by future pandemics; and if he will increase research and development science spending to help reduce those risks.

George Freeman: The UK is at the forefront of pandemic preparedness research, including the development of advanced vaccines, building on the success of the Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine. This includes allocating £354 million to life sciences manufacturing through the Global Britain Investment Fund to strengthen UK vaccine manufacturing resilience. BEIS stands ready to support businesses through any future pandemic, tailored to the circumstances at the time. We are increasing public R&D spending to £20 billion per annum by 2024-25, reaffirming BEIS’ record £39.8 billion allocation to 2024-25. This includes £25.1 billion for UK Research and Innovation, which provides significant funding for pandemic preparedness.

Carbon Emissions: Taxation

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a carbon pricing system.

Graham Stuart: The UK Emissions Trading Scheme – a ‘cap and trade’ carbon pricing scheme – came into force on 1 January 2021, replacing the UK’s participation in the EU ETS. It is run by the four administrations of the UK, collectively making up the UK ETS Authority. Establishing the UK ETS demonstrates the UK's commitment to carbon pricing as an effective tool that will help fulfil its climate change objectives. The UK ETS covers the UK’s power sector, energy-intensive industries, and emissions from domestic flights, flights from the UK to the European Economic Area (EEA) and flights between the UK and Gibraltar and UK and Switzerland. The Government is exploring expanding the scheme to other sectors.

Warm Home Discount Scheme

Abena Oppong-Asare: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of recipients receiving the Warm Homes Discount earlier in the Winter; what discussions he and his official have had with the energy suppliers on the timing of those payments; and if he will make a statement.

Graham Stuart: Energy suppliers can provide the Warm Home Discounts payments to their customers at any point until the end of March each scheme year, although in many cases it will be paid earlier. The timing of the payment will also depend on how each customer pays for their energy. While most households will receive their rebate automatically, without having to apply, this approach enables further households to be identified as eligible through manual means and allows energy suppliers time to resolve any issues with the Instructions to Pay. Therefore, the Government has not considered bringing forward the payment deadline.

Energy Efficiency Taskforce

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he will publish further details regarding (a) the Energy Efficiency Taskforce and (b) the 2030 Energy Demand Reduction target, announced in the Autumn Statement.

Graham Stuart: More details on the scope and membership of the Taskforce, and also on the Energy Demand Reduction target, will be announced in due course.

Flexible Working

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a day one right to request flexible working from job offer rather than first day of employment.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government consulted on whether all employees should be given a ‘day one’ right to request flexible working in 2021. Having reviewed consultation responses from a range of stakeholders, the Government decided to proceed with plans to extend the right to all employees from their first day of employment. This conclusion was set out in our response to the consultation “Making Flexible Working the Default”, which was published in September 2022.

Northern Ireland Office

Economic Growth: Northern Ireland

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what plans he has to use funding guaranteed through the New Deal for Northern Ireland financial package to support skills and employability measures.

Mr Steve Baker: The Government recognises the importance of supporting skills and employability measures in Northern Ireland and the need to ensure that there is a pipeline of skilled people in order to boost growth and attract investment to help Northern Ireland to succeed now and in the future. This is why £15 million has been allocated from the New Deal for Northern Ireland to deliver Skill Up in partnership with the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy. Skill Up is supporting skills provision in Northern Ireland by delivering 20,000 free training places in key growth areas for the economy, such as cyber and advanced manufacturing, giving people in Northern Ireland the skills they need to gain well-paid jobs and employers the pipeline of skilled workers they need for their businesses to grow.

Economic Growth: Northern Ireland

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what expenditure has been incurred through New Deal for Northern Ireland funding as of 1 January 2023.

Mr Steve Baker: The Government is firmly committed to strengthening the Union, Northern Ireland’s place within it, and driving forward economic growth and prosperity into the future. The £400m New Deal for Northern Ireland package of funding is helping to boost economic growth and increase Northern Ireland’s competitiveness. Nearly half of the £400 million New Deal for Northern Ireland funding has now been allocated, including £23 million being made available to the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy. Out of the £23 million, £15 million has been provided over three years for Skill Up, which is delivering 20,000 fully funded places, in key growth areas in Northern Ireland’s Further Education colleges and universities. The remaining £8 million has been provided to Invest NI to promote trade and investment in Northern Ireland and support businesses to access global markets. The other allocations made so far will develop systems that will support the movement of agri-food products between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland Office officials are working with a number of stakeholders, including Northern Ireland Executive and UK Government Departments to identify interventions that will support growth and prosperity in Northern Ireland and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland will make further decisions in due course on how the remainder of the New Deal for Northern Ireland funding will be used.

Department of Health and Social Care

Health: Disadvantaged

Taiwo Owatemi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce health inequalities between men and women.

Taiwo Owatemi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle health inequalities affecting women.

Taiwo Owatemi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to implement the Women's Health Strategy on tackling health inequalities and ensuring equitable access to and experience of services for women.

Maria Caulfield: A priority running through the Women’s Health Strategy for England is ensuring that all women have equitable access to and experience of services and disparities in health outcomes between men and women and groups of women are reduced. Last year we appointed Professor Dame Lesley Regan as the Women’s Health Ambassador for England to ensure women that experience health disparities are heard. The Department will update Parliament on the implementation of the Women’s Health Strategy annually. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is focused on improving the nation’s health and tackling health disparities. The health levelling up mission, stated in the Levelling Up White Paper, to improve healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035 and narrow the gap by 2030 remains Government policy. A significant proportion of ill health is preventable. By focusing on the major conditions that contribute to early death and reduce years of good health, as well as the behaviours that drive those conditions like smoking, poor diet and alcohol consumption, which disproportionately impact some places and communities, we will make progress on reducing health disparities and improve the health of women.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Maggie Throup: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what percentage by cohort of (a) people aged 50 to 64, (b) people aged 65 to 74, (c) people aged 75 and over, (d) pregnant women, (e) people aged 5 and over and at high risk from covid-19 due to a health condition or a weakened immune system, (f) people aged 5 and over who live with someone who has a weakened immune system, (g) people aged 16 and over and who are carers, either paid or unpaid, (h) people living or working in a care home for older people and (i) frontline health and social care workers who had taken up the offer of a free covid-19 booster vaccination by (A) 30 November 2022 and (B) 31 December 2022.

Maria Caulfield: The information requested is not held. However, the following table shows the booster uptake in age group from 50 years old to 90 years old and over by 30 November 2022 and 31 December 2022.Age GroupBooster uptake 30 November 2022 (%)Booster uptake 31 December 2022 (%)50-54yearsold38.341.855-59yearsold48.551.560-64yearsold58.160.865-69yearsold70.171.670-74yearsold77.578.775-79 years old80.882.180-84yearsold81.282.585-89yearsold80.782.290+yearsold77.979.9Source: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations?areaType=nation&areaName=EnglandData on vaccine uptake in pregnant women is published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in the Vaccine Surveillance Report, data is available up to June 2022. Of women who gave birth in June 2022, 67.3%, 24,933 of 37,037, had received 2 doses of the vaccine before they gave birth.The National Health Service publishes data on the total number of people who have had an Autumn Booster dose to date, 12 January for Health Care Workers, immunosuppressed and those at risk in the age bracket, of five years old to 49 years old. Individuals identified as carers in their general practitioner record were included in this cohort but from 1 December 2022 carers are no longer included.UKHSA publish monthly reports on seasonal influenza and COVID-19 vaccine uptake in frontline healthcare workers. Data published to the end of November 2022 showed that in 165 NHS Trusts providing a return, 338,602 frontline healthcare workers had received a COVID vaccine since 1 September 2022, an uptake of 36.3 %.

Mental Health

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November to Question 87882 on Mental Health, if he will publish a long-term strategy on mental health, well-being and suicide prevention.

Maria Caulfield: The Government is committed to improving mental health and wellbeing outcomes, particularly for people who experience worse outcomes than the general population. This is a key part of our commitment to level up and address unequal outcomes and life chances across the country.We launched a 12-week public call for evidence on what can be done across Government in the longer term to support mental health, wellbeing and suicide prevention. This closed on 7 July 2022. We received submissions from 5,273 respondents representing a broad range of stakeholders from across England and we are currently considering these.

NHS: Pay Settlements

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the criteria are for selecting members of the NHS pay awards body; and what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the independence of that body.

Will Quince: Members of the NHS Pay Review Body are appointed following an open recruitment process which is run in accordance with the Governance Code on Public appointments and is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Job description and person specifications setting out the essential criteria for the role vary slightly depending on the member vacancy advertised. The Office of Manpower Economics provides an independent secretariat to the pay review bodies separately from the Department.

Travel: Coronavirus

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of international travel from China on trends in the level of covid-19 in the UK.

Maria Caulfield: We are monitoring the situation in China carefully following the increase in cases and the easing of entry requirements to China on 8 January. Ministers have received regular updates from the UK Health Security Agency on the potential impact of this on the United Kingdom. There remains a concern that limited data being provided by China means a new variant of COVID-19 may emerge and begin circulating undetected. The Government has therefore taken action, requiring pre-departure testing for arrivals from China and introducing arrivals testing to enable sequencing of COVID-19 positive tests for a proportion of passengers on direct flights from China to Heathrow Airport. The best defence against COVID-19 remains vaccination, and the Government continues to encourage those eligible to get their boosters.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Qatar on Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus.

Maria Caulfield: UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) have not had specific discussions with Qatar on Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV). UKHSA regularly monitors the international epidemiology of MERS-CoV, carries out risk assessments to understand the risk of imported cases to the United Kingdom population and publishes detailed guidance on the management of possible cases of MERS-CoV.UKHSA remains vigilant and closely monitors developments in the Middle East and in the rest of the world where new cases of MERS-CoV have emerged and continues to liaise with international colleagues through well-established relationships, to assess whether our recommendations need to change.

Mental Health Services: Secondary Education

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the process is for referring a child in secondary school education for support from their local mental health team.

Maria Caulfield: Children in secondary school education can access a range of children and young people’s mental health services, including new education-based Mental Health Support Teams where these have been implemented. Referral to these services can be through a number of routes including by parents or carers, teachers, school nurses, special educational needs co-ordinators, general practitioners or from another National Health Service service. Children being supported by social services or the youth offending team can be referred by their key worker for an appointment with someone in specialist children and young people’s mental health services. In many areas, children and young people can also self-refer to their local children and young people’s mental health services. Support is also available that children and young people can access without having to ask for a referral, including the Every Mind Matters and NHS websites and urgent mental health helplines that anyone can call.

Ambulance Services

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to respond to increasing demand for the Ambulance Service.

Will Quince: The Autumn Statement provides an additional £3.3 billion in each of 2023/24 and 2024/25 to enable rapid action to improve urgent and emergency care performance towards pre-pandemic levels. The National Health Service is publishing recovery plans in the coming weeks to improve Category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes. In addition, as announced on the 9 January, the Government is immediately making available an additional £50 million in capital funding to expand hospital discharge lounges and ambulance hubs. This will help with the increased demand on the ambulance service this winter by improving patient flow through hospitals and reducing handover delays.

Autism and Learning Disability

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle closed cultures in inpatient settings for people with learning disabilities and autistic people.

Maria Caulfield: Health and care providers have a responsibility to prevent and detect closed cultures and their systems for setting and monitoring culture and encouraging staff to speak up.The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has developed ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance for services for people with a learning disability and autistic people which outlines the importance of ensuring a service’s model of care, policies and procedures are in line with the current best practice.The CQC has increased its scrutiny and oversight of providers of support for people with a learning disability and autistic people. The CQC uses both the guidance and observation when regulating registered services, including the monitoring, assessing and inspecting of such services. As a result, the CQC has identified more closed cultures and has taken enforcement action to protect people.NHS England has also established a three year quality improvement programme which seeks to tackle the root causes of unsafe, poor-quality inpatient care in mental health, learning disability and autism settings.We are considering what else may also be needed to address quality wider issues for mental health inpatient care.

Social Services: Vacancies

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle workforce shortages in the social care sector.

Helen Whately: In February 2022, we made care workers eligible for the Health and Care Visa and added them to the Shortage Occupation list. We are also investing £15 million to further boost overseas recruitment opportunities. We are running a national recruitment campaign, with continuous activity across jobs boards, video on demand, digital audio, radio and social media until 31 March. We are also making available £500 million to support safe and timely discharges from hospital. Where appropriate local areas can use this funding for measures related specifically to the recruitment and retention of care workers.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Children

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children have been diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome in (a) Rother Valley constituency and (b) England in the latest period for which data is available.

Helen Whately: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Social Services: Staff

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Government will introduce a 10-year workforce plan for the social care sector.

Helen Whately: We are developing a plan, for publication in Spring 2023, which will set out how we will support the progress to implement carers feeling supported, recognised and having opportunities to develop and progress in the adult social care workforce.

Ambulance Services and Nurses: Strikes

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to prevent (a) ambulance and (b) nursing strikes in Suffolk.

Will Quince: The independent pay review body process (PRB) is the established mechanism for determining pay uplifts in the public sector, including for staff working in the National Health Service (NHS). The PRBs are made up of industry experts who carefully consider evidence submitted to them from a range of stakeholders, including government and trade unions. They base their recommendations on several factors including the economic context, cost of living, recruitment and retention, morale, and motivation of NHS staff. We carefully consider their reports when we receive them. For the pay settlement in 2022-23, we accepted their recommendations in full. Ministers have met unions several times over recent months and we are clear that it is important that we keep talking about how together we can make the NHS a better place to work. We are in regular communication with NHS England about how they can support this, and reduce the likelihood of strike action.

Antibiotics: Production

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of antibiotics dispensed in the UK that are manufactured in (a) the UK, (b) the European Union and (c) elsewhere.

Will Quince: The data is not held centrally.

Antibiotics

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce the cost of the charge to the NHS for antibiotics.

Will Quince: The Government relies on competition to drive down prices of generic medicines such as antibiotics. This has led to some of the lowest prices in Europe. Freedom of pricing enables supplies to put prices up quickly to ensure we maintain continuity of supply despite increasing prices within the global market. In secondary care, tendering for antibiotics on a frequent basis ensures best value and supply resilience is optimised.No supplier should use the current situation as an opportunity to exploit the National Health Service. Where companies are found to be abusing their dominant position by charging excessive and unfair prices, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) can take action against businesses and individuals engaged in anti-competitive conduct. The CMA is working to establish the facts of what is currently happening in the antibiotic market. They stand ready to take action if there is evidence of anti-competitive behaviour that breaks the law.

Accident and Emergency Departments: Standards

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussion he has had with NHS hospital leaders on (a) ambulance queues outside NHS hospitals and (b) long A&amp;E waiting times.

Will Quince: My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care regularly meets with a range of stakeholders to discuss ambulance and Accident and Emergency performance, including senior NHS England leadership, integrated care board and NHS trust leaders.

Cannabis: Medical Treatments

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many prescriptions for cannabis-based medicines have been issued since those prescriptions became legal.

Will Quince: The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) is unable to provide the number of National Health Service prescription items for unlicensed cannabis-based medicines dispensed in the community in England. This information is being withheld in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), due to the number of items attributed to fewer than five patients and the elevated risk of potential patient identifiable information.However, the following table shows NHS and private prescribing data for the number of items prescribed for licensed and unlicensed cannabis based medicines dispensed in the community in England. Type of prescribingTime periodNumber of itemsNHS prescribing licensed medicinesNovember 2018 to October 202211,976Private prescribing licensed medicinesNovember 2018 to October 2022140Private prescribing unlicensed medicinesNovember 2018 to July 202289,239

Tourette's Syndrome: Research

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to increase the level of funding for research into the (a) causes of and (b) treatments for Tourette syndrome.

Maria Caulfield: The Department, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has funded or supported studies into the causes and treatments for Tourette’s syndrome. This includes a study on deep brain stimulation in people with Tourette’s syndrome and a digital behavioural intervention for tics in children and adolescents.In 2021/22, the NIHR spent £120 million on mental health research, which is a significant year on year increase in investment and we expect this funding to continue in the future. NIHR funding for research into the causes and treatments for Tourette's syndrome is available through open competition and we encourage researchers to submit applications in these areas.

Accident and Emergency Departments: Standards

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients waited for 12 hours or longer from their arrival at an accident and emergency department in each month of the past three years for which data are available.

Will Quince: This information is not held in the format requested. Data on the proportion of patients spending more than 12 hours in an emergency department is available for operational use by trusts to understand patient flows through emergency departments. The data is published annually by NHS Digital with no monthly breakdown available and NHS England is considering arrangements for further publication of this data.

Ambulance Services: Standards

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the waiting time for a 999 ambulance call.

Will Quince: Ambulance 999 calls are triaged and categorised by clinical priority.For Category 1 calls, the average response time for England in November 2022 was 9 minutes and 26 seconds. Category 1 90th percentile was 16 minutes 51 seconds.For Category 2 calls, the average response time in November 2022 was 48 minutes 8 seconds, and the Category 2 90th percentile was 1 hour 45 minutes 18 seconds.For Category 3 calls, the average response time was 2 hours 43 minutes 5 seconds, and Category 4 calls was 3 hours 20 minutes 18 seconds.

Orthopaedics

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have had a limb amputated in the last five years, in each Parliamentary constituency.

Will Quince: The information is not available in the format requested. However, a count of Finished Consultant Episodes (FCEs) where a relevant primary or secondary procedure of limb amputation (arms/legs and separately, arms/legs/hands/feet/fingers/toes/re-amputations) took place, split by English parliamentary constituency of patient for the period 2017/18 to 2021/22 and rounded to the nearest five is attached.Attachment (xlsx, 50.7KB)

HIV Infection: Health Education

Taiwo Owatemi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to embed HIV prevention messaging in community support settings, including (a) women’s health groups, (b) GP surgeries and (c) non-health settings visited regularly by people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.

Neil O'Brien: Local Authorities have primary responsibility for commissioning human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention interventions based on the needs of their local population, including HIV prevention messaging in community support settings such as women’s health groups, general practitioner surgeries and non-health settings.The Department is investing over £3.5 million to deliver the National HIV Prevention Programme, to work alongside local prevention activities by developing resources for populations most affected by HIV that can be adopted locally and used in a range of settings.

Genito-urinary Medicine: Monkeypox

David Mundell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to provide additional funding for sexual health services to help recover services that have been affected by the monkeypox outbreak.

Neil O'Brien: In 2022/23, we have allocated more than £3.4 billion to local authorities in England to fund public health services, including sexual health services, through the public health grant and provided additional funding for the monkeypox response, including the supply of medicines and vaccinations.The Department continues to work closely with the UK Health Security Agency, local authorities and NHS England to monitor the impact of monkeypox on sexual health services and support system-wide action to maintain access to routine sexual and reproductive health services.Local authorities are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual health services to meet local demand and individual local authorities decide on spending priorities based on an assessment of local need for sexual health services. We will announce the 2023/24 public health grant allocations to local authorities in due course.

Cancer: Health Services

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he will publish the Ten Year Cancer Plan; and whether that plan will include measures to tackle pancreatic cancer.

Helen Whately: Following the call for evidence for a 10 year cancer plan last year, we received over 5,000 submissions. We are currently reviewing these responses.

HIV Infection: Health Services

David Mundell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to involve people living with HIV in the (a) development, (b) linkage with community-based services and (c) further implementation of quality-of-life measurement tools in health facilities.

Neil O'Brien: The HIV Action Plan, published in 2021, sets out our key commitments in relation to supporting the needs of people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).In delivering against these commitments, UK Health Security Agency published the HIV Action Plan Monitoring and Evaluation Framework in December 2022. Reducing stigma and promoting quality of life are themes in the framework which includes a quality-of-life baseline indicator. The framework will continue to monitor and evaluate quality-of-life from this baseline.The framework also states that further work will be undertaken with the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group and with professional groups, the HIV community and academic partners to develop further indicators to monitor quality of life for those living with HIV. The British HIV Association in close collaboration with people living with HIV, has developed guidelines for the delivery of HIV treatment, care and support.

Dentistry: Migrant Workers

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the consultation outcome entitled Changes to the General Dental Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council's international registration legislation: government response, published on 28 November 2022, if he will take steps to reconsider his Department's response to question 13; and whether his Department is taking steps to help tackle the concerns of the respondents who disagreed with that proposal.

Neil O'Brien: The Order amends the General Dentist Council’s (GDC) legislation so that international dentist qualifications cannot on their own be used in support of an application to the Dental Care Professional (DCP) register.Whilst we recognise that the majority of respondents to the public consultation disagreed with this proposal, we intend to proceed with this amendment in the interests of patient safety. The Government and GDC recognise dentists and DCPs as distinct professions. The GDC’s priority must be on ensuring only suitably qualified people join the professions and this amendment ensures consistency between the United Kingdom and international routes, since qualified dentists cannot apply to join the DCP register using their dentistry qualification.The amendment will enable the GDC to process applications from dentists to join the register as DCPs that are received up until the day before the Order comes into force. This ensures that any 'live' DCP title applications submitted before the legislation is passed will be processed.The GDC will be introducing improvements to the Overseas Registration Exam which will support increased examinations capacity and help those dentists who may previously have utilised the DCP register route to complete the GDC registration process more quickly.

Tourette's Syndrome: Health Professions and Research

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to increase the number of specialist practitioners (a) researching and (b) treating Tourette Syndrome.

Maria Caulfield: Patients with Tourette’s syndrome can require support from a range of professionals, including clinical psychologists and neurologists. Health Education England has supported an 85 percent expansion in the clinical psychology training intake over the past three years. This expansion model is expected to achieve a growth of 2,520 additional psychologists in the National Health Service workforce by 2025. The number of postgraduate neurology training posts in England will also increase by 5 from August 2023.There are no specific plans to increase the number of specialist practitioners researching Tourette’s syndrome.

Influenza: Vaccination

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, where flu vaccines in use by the NHS during winter 2022-23 were manufactured.

Maria Caulfield: The information requested is not collected centrally. Adult flu vaccines are purchased locally by individual general practitioner practices and community pharmacies.Children’s flu vaccines are manufactured by AstraZeneca. The manufacture of the AstraZeneca UK Ltd Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine (LAIV) Fluenz Tetra, takes place across the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Tourette's Syndrome: Training

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to improve the quality of training on (a) Tourette’s syndrome and (b) other tic disorders for service providers.

Maria Caulfield: Individual employers are responsible for ensuring that staff are trained, competent and have the necessary skills to safely and effectively treat patients in their care, including those with Tourette’s syndrome and other neurological disorders.A new curriculum for dual training in neurology and internal medicine produced by the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board is being implemented to manage the growth in people with neurological disorders who can be treated and require long-term management, and those who present acutely to neurology, stroke and general medical services. Health Education England’s e-learning for healthcare also offers training packages including content on Tourette’s syndrome.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the covid-19 vaccination programme is resilient to (a) disruptions to supply chains and (b) other issues raised by suppliers.

Maria Caulfield: The COVID-19 vaccine unit in the UK Health Security Agency manages and ensures COVID-19 vaccine supply to the United Kingdom through a combination of close working with vaccine manufacturers, careful forward planning and risk assessment of supply chains. This unit has contracts with multiple vaccine manufacturers, including Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Novavax and Sanofi/GSK, which provides additional resilience.As a result, the UK has sufficient supply to meet current requirements from the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation for COVID-19 vaccination and we are confident that future demand will be met.

Department for Education

Department for Education: Energy

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much has been spent on energy for office space occupied by civil servants in (a) her Department, (b) Ofsted and (c) Ofqual in each of the last ten years for which data are available.

Nick Gibb: The below table includes data showing how much has been spent on energy for office space occupied by civil servants in the Department for Education (DfE), Ofsted and Ofqual. Cost (£ thousands)Financial YearDfEOfsted Ofqual 2012/13N/A187582013/14N/A214532014/15N/A226502015/161,610131572016/171,748129462017/181,731181502018/191,610150N/A2019/201,748150N/A2020/211,731172N/A2021/221,534148N/A  Notes:The Government Property Agency are DfE’s asset management supplier. It does not hold some of the requested historical data and this is reflected in the table.Financial figures for the DfE, Ofsted and Ofqual have been rounded.During this period reported the DfE, Ofsted, and Ofqual have had changes in accommodation – the property strategy and profile has changed moving from sole occupancy buildings to being tenants within the government estate where possible in line with government efficiency strategies.Data is not available for Ofqual from 2018 onwards as they have moved to a building where this is included within the lease and so this is not available as a per tenant figure. As such this is reported as ‘N/A’.

Care Leavers: Social Services

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the current cost to the public purse of services provided by her Department for care leavers.

Claire Coutinho: The core funding provided to local authorities to meet their statutory duties towards care leavers is included as part of the wider Local Government Funding Settlement provided by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which is not ring-fenced.In addition, the department provides the following funding direct to local authorities for specific purposes in 2022/23:£33 million to support the implementation of Staying Put, which enables care leavers to remain with their former foster carers to age 21;£12 million to provide Personal Adviser support to all care leavers up to age 25;£6 million to roll out Staying Close (an enhanced support package for young people leaving children’s homes) to more local authorities;£3.2 million to provide extra support to local authorities with the highest numbers of care leavers at risk of homelessness or rough sleeping.The department funds the care leaver covenant, worth £1 million in 2022/23, as well as the Junior ISA scheme for Looked after Children of £3.4 million in 2022/23.

Universities: Industrial Disputes

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with the (a) University and College Union and (b) Universities and Colleges Employers Association on potential industrial action by university staff.

Robert Halfon: The department has regular meetings with representatives of trade unions that have members in the higher education sector, including the University and College Union, as well as Universities UK and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association.These discussions include matters related to industrial disputes, such as use of fixed-term and casual contracts, the health of the Universities Superannuation Scheme pension fund and data on impacts of strikes on students and their learning, but not the industrial disputes themselves.Universities are autonomous and responsible for the pay and pension provision of their staff.  While the government plays no role in such disputes, the department hopes all parties can reach an agreement that delivers good value for students, staff and the universities, so that industrial action can be avoided.It is disappointing that students who have already suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic face further disruption to their learning due to industrial action. The department hopes that all sides can work together so that students do not suffer with further learning loss.If students are worried about the impact of strikes on their education, they should raise this with their university.The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education have published a guide to handling complaints arising from significant disruption: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/providers/handling-complaints-arising-from-significant-disruption/.

Care Leavers: Unemployment

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the number of care leavers who are not in education, employment or training; and what steps she is taking to improve outcomes for care leavers.

Claire Coutinho: The latest data for the year ending March 2022 show that 38% of care leavers aged 19 to 21 were not in education, employment or training (NEET), down from 41% in the year ending March 2021: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2022.The department has introduced measures to reduce the number of care leavers who are NEET. Care leavers starting an apprenticeship are entitled to a £1,000 bursary and local authorities are required to provide a £2,000 bursary to care leavers who go to university. Care leavers are a priority group for the 16 to19 bursary of £1,200 a year if they are studying in further education.We have established the Civil Service care leaver internship scheme, which has resulted in over 800 care leavers being offered posts in over 25 government departments, in locations across the UK.We have launched the care leaver covenant, which provides a way for organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors to show their commitment to care leavers through providing concrete offers of support. Over 350 organisations have signed the covenant.The department has also issued guidance to Higher Education Institutions on how they can ensure care leavers have the support they need to succeed at university.

Department for Education: Parliamentary Questions

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 25 April 2022 to Question 151069 on Department for Education: Parliamentary Questions, if she will provide this information for the 2022-23 Parliamentary Session to 30 November 2022.

Nick Gibb: The Department attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from Members of Parliament, including written parliamentary questions (WPQs).The below table provides the average number of working days that it has taken for the Department to respond to ‘Named Day’ and ‘Ordinary’ WPQs during the 2022/23 Parliamentary Session up to 30 November 2022. It also includes the totals received and the percentage of questions answered within their respective parliamentary deadlines. 2022/23 Parliamentary SessionWPQ typeWPQ received & due for answer% answered on timeAverage working days to respond10/05/2022 – 30/11/22Named Day WPQs58967.6%5.7Ordinary WPQs1,40275.0%7.0Total1,99172.8%- Footnotes:1. Data is based on the number of ‘Named Day’ and ‘Ordinary’ WPQs received and answered by the Department for Education from the start of the 2022/23 Parliamentary Session to 30 November 20222. MPs may table questions, specifying the date on which they should receive an answer (a Named Day WPQ). MPs must give a minimum of two days notice. However, they may also pick a date further in the future. This can impact the average number of working days to respond3. Recess periods can impact the due date for answering WPQs, this will also have an impact on the average number of working days to respond. During this period, the House rose for Summer recess, Conference recess, November recess and the Official Mourning Period4. These figures do not include 93 Ordinary WPQs that were not answered during the Official Mourning Period, as advised by the Table Office5. An average length of time to respond is not given for the overall totals.

Schools: Houghton and Sunderland South

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer on Schools of 4 November 2022 to Question 79332, and the expected completion of analysis by the Department, in respect of schools in the Houghton and Sunderland South constituency, what capital funding she has made available to the local authority since May 2021 to address the needs identified by the Condition of School Buildings Survey.

Nick Gibb: Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the Department. That is why over £13 billion has been allocated since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion committed for the 2022/23 financial year.Local Authorities, larger multi-academy trusts and larger voluntary-aided (VA) school bodies receive an annual School Condition Allocation (SCA) to concentrate funding in priorities across the schools for which they are responsible. Smaller academy trusts, smaller VA bodies and sixth form colleges are instead able to bid into the Condition Improvement Fund.Sunderland Local Authority received £1,636,243 in SCA on behalf of their Local Authority maintained schools in the 2021/22 financial year and £1,514,494 in the 2022/23 financial year, a total of £3,150,737. Large multi-academy trusts and large voluntary aided school bodies, also receive SCA funding to spend in schools for which they are responsible. These are not included in the figures as large academy trusts and voluntary aided school bodies will typically span Local Authority boundaries. A full breakdown of allocations can be found on GOV.UK.In addition to SCA, the Department provides Devolved Formula Capital (DFC) to schools to spend on their capital priorities, including improving the condition of their school buildings. The Department has also recently announced an additional £447 million of capital funding for schools and sixth form colleges to spend on capital improvements to buildings and facilities, prioritising works to improve energy efficiency.Additional capital allocations and DFC allocations for each school for the 2022/23 financial year can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding. DFC allocations for the 2021/22 financial year can be found on the National Archives website.

Free School Meals

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the uptake of free school meals amongst eligible children.

Nick Gibb: The Department wants to make sure as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming free school meals (FSM).The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming benefits related FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together, with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, over one third of pupils receive a FSM in school.The Department’s last estimate is that uptake is around 89% of those who are eligible.The Department provides an Eligibility Checking System to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and Local Authorities. The Department has also developed a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for FSM and provided guidance to Jobcentre Plus advisers so that they can make Universal Credit recipients aware that they may also be entitled to wider benefits, including FSM.

School Rebuilding Programme: Northumberland

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the funding allocation to schools in Northumberland by the school rebuilding programme.

Nick Gibb: The Department has provisionally allocated 400 of the 500 available places on the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP), prioritised on the basis of their condition. Of these, two are in Northumberland. A list of these schools and the detailed methodology used to select them is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.The funding for each project will depend on the works being undertaken and will be determined when the scope and delivery plans for each project are developed.In addition to the SRP, the Department also allocates annual condition funding to schools and those responsible for school buildings to maintain and improve the condition of the school estate. Local Authorities receive condition funding through an annual School Condition Allocation (SCA). For the 2022/23 financial year, Northumberland County Council has been allocated £5,851,788 in SCA funding to prioritise across its maintained schools. Academies and voluntary aided (VA) schools in Northumberland will either receive SCA funding through their trust or VA group, or will be instead able to bid into the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) for their condition need.Further detail on condition funding can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding.

Universities: Admissions

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of UK students who will seek places at UK universities in each of the next five years.

Robert Halfon: Since education policy is a devolved matter, the department has not made an estimate of the overall number of UK students who will be seeking places at UK universities.UCAS has stated that they expect the number of UK and overseas applicants to reach one million by the academic year 2026/27. This forecast is independent from the department and yet to be published in detail, but was mentioned in the UCAS publication titled Public Accounts Committee - Financial sustainability of the higher education sector in England (page 3), which can be accessed here: https://www.ucas.com/file/584491/download?token=IydiELPF.

Childcare

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has provided recent guidance to local authorities on the exercise of their responsibilities to which they must have regard under section 7(3) of the Childcare Act 2006; and when she plans to next revise that guidance.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has provided recent guidance to local authorities on the exercise of their responsibilities to which they must have regard under section 6(3) of the Childcare Act 2006; and when she plans to next revise that guidance.

Claire Coutinho: When delivering the free early education entitlements, local authorities have a statutory duty under the Childcare Act 2006 to ensure that their local areas have sufficient childcare provision for parents who require childcare to work, and a duty to secure free early years provision for eligible children.In undertaking these duties, local authorities must have regard to the department’s statutory guidance which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/718179/Early_education_and_childcare-statutory_guidance.pdf.This guidance supports local authorities to understand how to meet their statutory responsibilities under Sections 6 and 7 of the Childcare Act 2006, as well as under the Childcare Act 2016. The guidance was last revised from 1 September 2018 following the introduction of 30 hours free childcare for foster children. This is supplemented by the Early years entitlements operational guidance, which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1027881/Early_years_entitlements-operational_guidance__3_.pdf.The department keeps the statutory and operational guidance under review and updates it as necessary.

Children in Care: Missing Persons

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that children in care who go missing are (a) found and (b) kept safe.

Claire Coutinho: The department takes the matter of any child going missing very seriously, and statutory guidance is in place which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-who-run-away-or-go-missing-from-home-or-care.This guidance outlines the responsibilities of local authorities working with partners, to prevent children going missing and to gather and share information and intelligence to reduce this risk. The guidance applies to all children going missing, whether this is from the family home or from care.The guidance requires that every children's home has clear procedures to prevent children from going missing. The guidance also ensures there are detailed interviews when a child has returned from being missing.The department is firmly committed to ensuring that when care is the best choice for a child, the care system provides stable, loving homes close to children’s communities. The government is investing £259 million in capital funding to provide high quality homes for some of our most vulnerable young people, to ensure that they can be closer to families, schools, and health services.

Class Sizes

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the optimum class size for (a) primary and (b) secondary students to achieve the highest level of attainment.

Nick Gibb: It is up to schools to decide on class sizes that are consistent with raising attainment and helping pupils to achieve their potential. The exception to this is in infant classrooms, where there is a statutory limit of 30 pupils in each class, with some legal exemptions.The assessment of the evidence by the Education Endowment Foundation found that the impact of reducing class sizes on educational attainment is low compared to the high cost of doing so. Internationally, John Hattie’s work ranks reducing class sizes at 186 out of 250 influences on pupil achievement.Despite an increase of nearly 850,000 pupils in state-funded primary and secondary schools since 2010, average class sizes remain low. In secondary schools, the average is 22.3 pupils, whilst the average primary class has remained stable at 26.6 pupils. The average size of an infant class is 26.7. This is slightly higher than in January 2021, when the average was 26.6, but lower than it has been over the course of the last decade. Further information about average class sizes can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.

Children: Gambling

Mr David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to Answer of 15 November 2022 to Question 82174 on Gambling: Children, who authorised (a) the disclosure to Trustopia and (b) the contract terms of that disclosure; who was responsible for monitoring the management of that data; and whether disciplinary action has been taken following that incident.

Nick Gibb: The disclosure to Trust Systems Software UK Limited (trading name Trustopia) resulted from access given to a predecessor organisation that was a legitimate provider. The Department received a change of name request form and the amendment form which required Trustopia to sign a new learning provider agreement which set out terms of use for the Learning Records Service.There is a dedicated team who manage the Learning Records Service. A signed copy of the agreement will be placed in the House of Commons Library in January 2023. The Department has worked closely with the ICO following this incident. Procedures for monitoring unusual activity have been strengthened, as have wider practices around Data Protection in the Department.The Department’s legal advice at the time was not to pursue breach of contract pending the ICO investigation. The company has since ceased trading.

Pupils: Eating Disorders

Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of teacher training for identifying pupil eating disorders; and if she will introduce an eating disorder toolkit for teachers.

Nick Gibb: The Department is committed to ensuring teachers have the appropriate knowledge, skills, and resources they need to promote and support mental health and wellbeing, including being able to identify the potential early signs of an eating disorder.The Department has published guidance and signposting to external sources of mental health and wellbeing support for teachers and others in contact with children and young people, which includes sources of help and advice for children and young people suffering with an eating disorder. This information can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mental-health-and-wellbeing-support-in-schools-and-colleges.To support the effective use of training and guidance on supporting and promoting mental health in schools, including identifying need, the Department is funding all schools and colleges in England to train senior mental health leads who can put in place whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing. This approach should encompass robust processes for identifying students, or specific groups, who need additional mental health support. Two thirds of schools and colleges will have been able to access funding by April 2023, backed by £10 million in the 2022/23 financial year.There are also currently 287 mental health support teams in place in around 4,700 schools and colleges across the country, offering support to children experiencing common mental health issues and with the potential to spot eating disorders early on. These teams now cover 26% of pupils, a year earlier than originally planned. This will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35% of pupils, by April 2023 with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.It is important to recognise teachers are not mental health professionals and should not be expected to diagnose mental health issues. If a child or young person is suffering with an eating disorder or problem, evidence-based treatment should be accessed via their general practitioner or local Psychological Therapies services.

Schools: Inflation

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of inflation on (a) school budgets and (b) the cost to parents associated with the school day.

Nick Gibb: Schools will receive an additional £2 billion in each of 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years as a result of the 2022 Autumn Statement. The core schools budget, which covers schools’ day-to-day running costs, including schools’ energy bills and the costs of providing income-related free school meals, has risen from £49.8 billion in 2021/22 to £53.8 billion in 2022/23 and will continue to rise to £57.3 billion in 2023/24 and £58.8 billion in 2024/25. By 2024/25, funding per pupil will have risen to its highest ever level in real terms. These increases provide support to schools to deal with the effects of inflation on their budgets.In September 2022, the Government announced unprecedented support to protect households and businesses from high energy prices. The Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bill Discount Scheme, the successor to the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, are supporting millions of households and businesses.The Department is clear that school uniforms should be affordable. No school uniform should be so expensive that pupils or their families feel unable to apply to or attend a school of their choice. In November 2021, the Department issued statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms to ensure the cost of school uniforms is reasonable. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms. Governing boards should be compliant with much of the guidance by September 2022 and fully compliant by summer 2023.The Government has announced further support, worth £26 billion, for next year. This is designed to target the most vulnerable households and families. This is on top of the £37 billion cost of living support provided by the Government this year.

Educational Institutions: Domestic Visits

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which (a) early years and childcare settings, (b) primary schools, (c) secondary schools, (d) sixth form colleges, (e) further education colleges, and (e) universities she has visited outside her constituency since 25 October 2022.

Nick Gibb: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has made a number of visits to early year settings, schools and colleges outside of her constituency since 25 October 2022.These include Chesterton Primary School in Wandsworth, Churchend Primary School in Reading, Tillingbourne Junior School in Guildford, which is also a location for a Holiday Activities and Food Programme, Coundon Court School in Coventry, Solihull College and Aston University. Since the 25 October the Secretary of State has not yet visited a sixth form college but has planned visits in her diary.In addition to the Secretary of State’s visits, her fellow Ministers in the Department have also visited a variety of providers. These include Thomas Jones Primary School in Notting Hill, Simpson’s Lane Primary Academy in Wakefield, Norton Hill School in Somerset, Thomas Becket Catholic School in Northampton, Lycée Camille-Sée in Paris, Guiseley School in Leeds, Michaela Community School in Wembley, Royal Docks Academy in Newham, Harefield Infant School in Hertfordshire, Sir Bobby Robson School in Ipswich, Priory School in Bury St Edmunds, Pear Tree Mead Academy in Harlow, William Morris Sixth Form in Hammersmith, UCU Westminster Kingsway College, Barking and Dagenham College, USP College in Essex and South Essex College.

Private Education: VAT

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2022 to Question 96600 on Private Education: VAT, whether her Department has (a) undertaken, (b) commissioned and (c) holds any other research on the potential effects of the introduction of 20 per cent VAT on the private schools sector.

Nick Gibb: The Department does not monitor or regulate independent school fees, spending or financial arrangements. The current Government has not proposed the introduction of VAT on school fees and no exploratory work has been undertaken in relation to this issue.

Teachers: Labour Turnover and Recruitment

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the recruitment and retention of teachers.

Nick Gibb: The number of teachers remains high, with over 465,500 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) teachers working in state funded schools across the country. This is 24,000 more than in 2010.The Department recognises there is more to do to ensure teaching remains an attractive, high status profession, and to recruit and retain teachers in key subjects. Reforms are aimed not only at increasing teacher recruitment through an attractive pay offer and financial incentives such as bursaries, but also at ensuring teachers stay and succeed in the profession.The Department remains committed to delivering £30,000 starting salaries to attract and retain the best teachers.The Department is investing £181 million in financial incentives. For those starting initial teacher training (ITT) in the 2023/24 academic year, there are bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000 to encourage talented trainees to apply to train in key secondary subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. The Department has also expanded the offer to international trainees in physics and languages.The Department also offers a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 annually for mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who work in disadvantaged schools.The Department launched its new digital service, ‘Apply for teacher training’ in autumn 2021, enabling a more streamlined, user friendly application route, to make it easier for people to train to become teachers.The Department is also taking action to enable teachers to succeed through transforming their training and support. The Department will deliver 500,000 teacher training and development opportunities by the end of 2024, giving all teachers and school leaders access to quality, evidence based training and professional development at every stage of their career.To support retention in the first few years of teaching, the Department has rolled out the Early Career Framework (ECF) nationally, providing the foundations for a successful career in teaching. This is backed by over £130 million a year in funding.The Department’s reforms are aimed not only at increasing teacher recruitment across all areas, but also at ensuring teachers stay and succeed in the profession. The Department has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing, and support all schools to introduce flexible working practices. These resources include the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which the Department is encouraging schools to sign up to as a shared commitment to promote staff wellbeing, and the school workload reduction toolkit, developed alongside head teachers. The Charter is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter, and the toolkit is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workload-reduction-toolkit.

Apprentices: Taxation

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has plans to consult on changes to the Apprenticeships Levy before the Budget on 15 March.

Robert Halfon: The apprenticeship levy is an important part of our reforms, supporting employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training.The department is continuing to improve apprenticeships, making them more flexible and making it easier for employers to make greater use of their levy funds. The department is increasing apprenticeship funding to £2.7 billion by financial year 2024/25 to support more employers and apprentices to benefit from apprenticeships.The department does not currently have any plans to review the apprenticeship levy or consult on any changes to it.

Private Education: Registration

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2022 to Question 82258 Private Education: Registration, how many institutions in England are under investigation by her Department; and how many of the ten institutions under suspicion for operating as unregistered independent schools are currently operating.

Nick Gibb: Under Section 97 of the Education and Skills Act 2008, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector is able to inspect without notice any institution where she has reasonable cause to believe that the criminal offence of conducting an unregistered independent school is being committed.As these inspections form part of ongoing criminal investigations, it is not possible to provide real-time updates on the number and outcomes of these inspections. This includes the number of ongoing investigations and the number of suspected unregistered independent schools which are currently operating.Ofsted publish statistics on their activity with regards to unregistered schools. These are updated twice-yearly and are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/unregistered-schools-management-information.

Schools: Buildings

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2022 to Question 97790 on Schools: Repairs and Maintenance, for what reason the outcomes of the most recent Condition Data Collection Programme have not yet been placed in the Library of the House.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer on Schools of 4 November 2022 to Question 79332, and the expected completion of analysis by the Department, if she will publish her estimate of the capital cost of tackling the backlog of school repairs in the Houghton and Sunderland South constituency.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer on Schools of 4 November 2022 to Question 79332, and the expected completion of analysis by the Department, in respect of the Houghton and Sunderland South constituency, (a) which schools have at least one building with elements in condition grade D, (b) how many buildings in total in each such school have at least one element in condition grade D.

Nick Gibb: The Condition Data Collection (CDC) was one of the largest and most comprehensive data collection programmes in the UK public sector. The key high-level findings of the CDC programme were published in May 2021 in the report ’Condition of School Buildings Survey – Key Findings‘, which can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/989912/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.The Department is planning to publish more detailed school level CDC data. The Department is still preparing the data but due to the size of the dataset, there has been a delay in publication. As part of that publication, it is the Department’s intention to publish condition grades for individual building elements for all schools included in the CDC programme.

Department for Education: Electronic Messaging

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2022 to Question 74642 on Department for Education: Electronic Messaging, if she will place in the Library copies of her Department's policies on (a) Acceptable Use of IT, (b) Use of Mobile Phones, (c) Data Handling and (d) Record Management.

Nick Gibb: The Department will place the requested documents in the Libraries of both Houses in due course.

Schools: Buildings

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) processes and (b) the planned timetable is for the (i) collection, (ii) review, (iii) preparation for publication and (iv) publication of data on the physical condition of schools in England through the Condition Data Collection Two programme.

Nick Gibb: The Department is managing the Condition Data Collection (CDC) 2 programme from 2021-26. The Department is working with three surveying organisations to collect building condition data for every government funded school in England. The school building condition data collected is quality assured to ensure it meets the expected data quality standards. Further information about the programme can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/973890/CDC2_Programme_Guide.pdf.The main purpose of the CDC2 programme is to assess school building condition consistently. The data is used as part of a wider evidence base to allocate condition funding fairly. CDC2 collects condition data at a high level and is not a safety survey. Schools and responsible bodies have separate reporting mechanisms to notify the Department of structural or safety issues and the Department provides extensive guidance on effective school estate management and management of building safety risk.The Department currently only has CDC2 data for approximately a quarter of the school estate and is planning to publish data after the end of the programme.

Ministry of Justice

Powers of Entry: Meters

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of trends in the volume of warrants being issued by magistrates to install prepayment meters.

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the number of prepayment meter warrants which have been (a) granted and (b) refused in England and Wales by (i) constituency and (ii) court circuit per month since July 2021.

Mike Freer: Under the applicable statutory framework, in order to grant an application to enforce a right of entry, a justice must be satisfied that:There is a right of entry;Admission is reasonably required; andThe requirements of the Gas Act or Electricity Act have been complied with (this relates principally to the giving of notice).The justice must be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that these grounds apply. The legislation, which the Justice of the Peace must apply, does not require the energy supplier to demonstrate they are acting as a last resort in seeking a warrant to install a prepayment meter to avoid disconnecting the customer’s supply.Since 2019 the volume of warrants issued has been increasing year on year, save for a dip during 2020, peaking at 367,084 in 2022.YearGrantedRefusedTotal2019277,1421,824278,9662020221,49443221,5372021332,27736332,3132022367,08456367,140In the period between July 2021 and December 2022, a total 536,214 warrants were applied for by energy suppliers. Of those, the vast majority (536,139) were granted; while 75 were refused.These figures represent all warrants of entry, as warrants for the purpose of installing a prepayment meter cannot be isolated from the data.Data by court centre on the number of warrants granted and refused following an application by an energy supplier can be found in the table attached. Data on a constituency level is not held.These data are management information and are not subject to the same level of checks as official statistics. The data provided is the most recent available and for that reason might differ slightly from any previously published information.More widely we are supporting all households with the Energy Price Guarantee - saving a typical household c.£900 this winter – plus the £400 discount on energy bills. The most vulnerable households will get £1,200, plus other cost of living support delivered via benefits and pensions.Table (xlsx, 30.4KB)

Administration of Justice

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions in each of the last 12 years court hearings could not go ahead because of (a) the failure of a prisoner to be produced in court and (b) the failure of the use of virtual technology in prisons.

Edward Argar: Information on ineffective trials by reason is published as part of Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly – ‘Trial effectiveness at the criminal courts’ tool. The latest tool is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2022. Information for earlier years (2010 to 2014) is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2021. The data shows that the proportion of ineffective trials where the defendant was not produced by prisoner escort custody services has remained relatively stable in Crown Court and was 2% from 2018-2021. It fell slightly in magistrates’ courts from 4% in 2016-2020 to 3% in 2021.The proportion of ineffective trials due to equipment or accommodation failure has also remained stable since 2011 at between 1% and 2% in magistrates’ courts and 0% and 1% in Crown Court.

Treasury

Treasury: Staff

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of moving staff from HMRC's Customer Compliance Group to Covid-19 schemes on the compliance yield for 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Victoria Atkins: At the Spring Budget 2021 the Government announced a £100m investment into a Taxpayer Protection Taskforce to significantly extend His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ work to address fraud and error in the HMRC administered COVID-19 support schemes (Self Employment Income Support Scheme, Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Eat Out to Help Out). The TPT investment has enabled HMRC to recruit and train new people to backfill these tax compliance posts; and in future years these additional resources will mitigate the impact on taxation compliance yield over the 5-year scorecard period.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Trade Agreements: Environment Protection and Human Rights

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has held discussions with his Cabinet colleagues on ensuring the alignment of UK trade policy with UK environmental and human rights commitments.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office works closely with other government Departments to ensure that the UK's independent trade policy supports our international environment and human rights obligations.The UK is a leading advocate and is committed to the promotion of universal human rights which we pursue through international engagement and leadership. Having secure and growing trading relationships enables us to exert influence on a range of issues, including human rights.The Government is committed to putting environmental matters at the heart of our new trade agreements, now possible thanks to our independent trade policy powers post Brexit. We will never compromise on our own environmental high standards, labour laws, animal welfare and food safety standards.The UK has signed ambitious environment chapters in our Australia and New Zealand trade deals which preserve our right to regulate to protect the environment, affirm our shared commitment to the Paris Agreement, and strengthen cooperation on a range of environmental issues. Australia agreed for the first time to reference it's climate change commitments under the Paris Agreement in the UK-Australia FTA. Our FTA with New Zealand goes even further, by including the most comprehensive environmental goods list of liberalised tariffs in an FTA to date.As the Minister for State for Indo Pacific I work closely with other cabinet members, including in the Domestic and Economic Affairs Committee on matters relating to energy and the delivery of our domestic and international climate strategy. As an independent trading nation, the UK decides how we set and maintain our own standards and regulations. We have committed to not compromising on our world-leading environmental protections, labour laws, animal welfare and food safety standards, and we remain a leading advocate for human rights around the world.

Hong Kong: Rule of Law

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the rule of law in Hong Kong.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: China has continued to use the National Security Law (NSL) and its related institutions to undermine rights and freedoms in Hong Kong. As NSL cases proceed through the Courts, we are seeing the implications of this sweeping legislation, including the chilling effect on the rule of law; freedom of expression; stifling of opposition voices and criminalising dissent.It was against this backdrop that the President of the Supreme Court, in consultation with the former Foreign Secretary and former Deputy Prime Minister, decided that it was no longer tenable for serving UK judges to sit on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.

Hong Kong: National Security

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the consequences for his policies of the enforcement of the National Security Law in Hong Kong.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: It is clear that China has continued to use the National Security Law (NSL) and its related institutions to undermine rights and freedoms in Hong Kong.We have responded quickly and decisively to the enactment of the NSL in Hong Kong. That included introducing a new immigration path for British Nationals Overseas BN(O), suspending our extradition treaty with Hong Kong and extending our arms embargo on mainland China to cover Hong Kong.We have also co-ordinated action with international partners to hold China to account, including joint G7 Foreign Ministers' and Five Eyes alliance statements.We will continue to act as a convening power, bringing together our international partners to stand up for the people of Hong Kong, to call out violations of their rights and freedoms, and to hold China to its international obligations.

East Africa: Climate Change and Humanitarian Situation

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of (a) loss and damage caused by climate change and (b) the wider humanitarian situation in East Africa.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK recognises that the current impacts of climate change are likely to increase in frequency and severity. Investment in mitigation and adaptation will help reduce these impacts. More needs to be done at global, regional and local levels to help countries and local communities. Between 2016 and 2020 the UK spent £2.4 billion in areas relevant to addressing losses and damages. At COP27 the UK announced it will triple funding for adaptation programmes from £500 million in 2019 to £1.5 billion in 2025.Across East Africa, over 71 million people require humanitarian aid due to a combination of pressures. Principal drivers of need are conflict and climate change including an unprecedented fifth consecutive season of failed rains and exceptional flooding in some places. Humanitarian requirements will remain at critical levels throughout 2023. Tens of millions of people across East Africa have benefitted from UK funded resilience building programmes in recent years and the UK will allocate at least £156 million towards humanitarian crises in East Africa this financial year.

Climate Change: International Assistance

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will pledge bilateral finance for climate-related loss and damage prior to the fund under the UNFCCC becoming operation.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK recognises that the current impacts of climate change are leading to losses and damages, and these are likely to increase in frequency and severity. As such, more needs to be done at global, regional and local levels to help countries and communities avert, minimise and address those losses and damages.At COP26 in November 2021, the UK strongly supported the establishment of a 'Glasgow Dialogue on Loss and Damage' to discuss the arrangements for the funding of activities to avert, minimise and address loss and damage. Building on this at COP27, all parties agreed to establish new funding arrangements to assist developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to adverse effects of climate change, including a fund for responding to loss and damage.The UK is constructively engaging with the establishment of the Loss and Damage fund's Transitional Committee. We will continue to work with this Committee, with parties to the UNFCCC and with civil society, to ensure that the fund and wider funding arrangements deliver effectively for countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Funding arrangements are yet to be developed so it is not possible to say at this stage if or what amount, the UK might contribute.

Armed Conflict: Sexual Offences

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department spent (a) in total, (b) on food and (c) on receptions at the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative Conference on the 28 and 29 November 2022; and whether those costs were included in the Official Development Assistance budget.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The PSVI Conference, hosted by myself and Lord Ahmad on 28-29 November 2022, was a key opportunity to turn the dial on the global response to conflict-related sexual violence. Final costs are still to be determined but current forecasts indicate that it will be within budget. Catering costs are proportionate to the number of attendees and are ODA eligible. ODA was not used to cover the costs of the reception on 28 November 2022.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Remote Working

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many and what proportion of their Department’s employees work from home at least one day a week.

David Rutley: The FCDO does not collect information on the number of our staff working from home.

Iran: Russia

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to address Iran’s involvement in supplying weapons to Russia.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on potential sanctions against people in Iran cooperating with Russia.

David Rutley: The recent transfers of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Russia for use in Ukraine is yet another example of Iran's reckless and destabilising behaviour. The UK takes every opportunity to publicly challenge this activity alongside our international partners, most recently at the UN Security Council on 19 December. The UK has also introduced two rounds of sanctions (on 20 October and 13 December) to target Iranian individuals and businesses responsible for supplying Russia with drones. In total, the UK has over 300 sanctions in place against Iranian individuals and entities for their role in weapons proliferation, human rights abuses, and terrorism, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in its entirety.

West Bank: Security

Mark Jenkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the security situation in the West Bank, in the context of reports of Palestinian Authority arrests of Palestinians with alleged links to Hamas.

David Rutley: We continue to closely monitor the security situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The UK continues to provide the Palestinian Authority (PA) with professional support in helping develop its security institutions. This provision includes training and other technical assistance to the PA Ministry of Interior and PA Security Forces (PASF), to support the development of capable, responsible security forces that respect human rights and are accountable to the Palestinian people.

Fariba Kamalabadi and Mahvash Sabet

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what reports he has received of the reimprisonment and 10 year sentences in the cases of Fariba Kamalabadi and Mahvash Sabet, two Baha’i women in Iran; and if he will make a statement.

David Rutley: The persecution of religious minorities in Iran cannot be tolerated. This includes the Iranian regime's systematic persecution of Iran's Baha'i community which has worsened over the last year. The Minister for the Middle East and Human Rights, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad, made this clear in his 5 August statement. The Government reiterated its commitment to holding Iran to account for its treatment of the Baha'i at the 11 October Westminster Hall debate. The UK raised the Baha'i at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Third Committee on 26 October and pressed for the inclusion of the Baha'i in the 16 November UNGA Resolution.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: Homicide

Brendan Clarke-Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his Georgian counterpart on the reported attempted assassination of an Israeli-Georgian businessman by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.

David Rutley: The UK is committed to working with the international community to ensure Iran abides by international laws and norms and is held to account for its destabilising activity. We have been clear about our concerns over the malign activity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is sanctioned in its entirety. We regularly discuss our approach to Iran with regional and international partners.

Iran: Demonstrations

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure the Iranian Government respects the right to peaceful assembly and releases unfairly detained protesters.

David Rutley: The UK is committed to holding Iran to account on a wide range of human rights issues, including the appalling treatment of children and women throughout Iran's brutal crackdown of protests. The UK supported the 24 November Human Rights Council resolution establishing a UN investigation into the regime's appalling human rights violations. We worked closely with partners to successfully remove Iran from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. The FCDO has called on Iranian authorities in multiple international fora to abide by its obligations under international law to release unfairly detained protesters.

Iran: Guided Weapons

Robert Courts: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of Iran’s ballistic missile programme.

David Rutley: Iran's ballistic missile programme destabilises the region and threatens European security. UN Security Council Resolution 2231 (UNSCR 2231) calls on Iran not to undertake activities related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering a nuclear-weapon, including launches using such technology. Alongside France and Germany, we have written regularly to the UN Secretary-General, including on 23 November, to draw attention to Iranian missile-activity inconsistent with UNSCR 2231. We have also urged Iran to refrain from such activity in UN Security Council meetings, including on 19 December. We urge Iran to fully abide by UNSCR 2231 and all other relevant resolutions.

Myanmar: Conditions of Employment

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of recent reports of allegations by Burmese workers who produced F&amp;F clothing for Tesco that they were subject to forced labour and low pay conditions.

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to recent reports on the working conditions of Burmese workers producing F&amp;F jeans for Tesco in Thailand, whether he has had discussions with his Thai counterpart on the (a) working conditions and (b) rights of garment workers in that country.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK Government is clear that it expects all UK businesses to respect human rights throughout their operations, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on business and human rights. In 2015, we introduced the Modern Slavery Act, which requires businesses with a turnover of £36 million or more to publish an annual modern slavery statement stating the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.The Government expects companies to report transparently about how they are mitigating modern slavery risks and to use their modern slavery statements to demonstrate year on year progress. This enables consumers, shareholders and civil society to scrutinise the efforts being made. The Foreign Secretary has not discussed labour conditions or the rights of garment workers in Thailand with his counterpart in Thailand.

Iran: Demonstrations

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what additional steps the Government is taking at the UN in respect of Iran and the violence, arrests, and detention of people taking part in recent protests in that country.

David Rutley: The UK is committed to holding Iran to account on a wide range of human rights issues, including the appalling treatment of children and women throughout Iran's brutal crackdown of protests. The UK supported the 24 November Human Rights Council resolution establishing a UN investigation into the regime's appalling human rights violations. We worked closely with partners to successfully remove Iran from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. The FCDO has called on Iranian authorities in multiple international fora to abide by its obligations under international law to improve the practices surrounding children in detention.

Thailand: Conditions of Employment

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his counterpart in Thailand on the working conditions of people making goods for UK firms.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK Government is clear that it expects all UK businesses to respect human rights throughout their operations, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on business and human rights. In 2015, we introduced the Modern Slavery Act, which requires businesses with a turnover of £36 million or more to publish an annual modern slavery statement stating the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.The Government expects companies to report transparently about how they are mitigating modern slavery risks and to use their modern slavery statements to demonstrate year on year progress. This enables consumers, shareholders and civil society to scrutinise the efforts being made. The Foreign Secretary has not discussed labour conditions or the rights of garment workers in Thailand with his counterpart in Thailand.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Employment Schemes

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support veterans transitioning to civilian employment.

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help increase the uptake of job transition services for veterans.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) works collaboratively with the Office for Veterans’ Affairs and with other Government Departments to support Service leavers and veterans transition into civilian employment. The MOD provided significant input into the Government’s Veterans' Strategy Action Plan: 2022 to 2024 and is a member of the newly formed Veteran Employers Group, which is chaired by the Minister for Veterans Affairs. Resettlement services are offered to all personnel leaving the Armed Forces, with employment support and training delivered through the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) to all Regular Service leavers. The CTP is the official provider of Armed Forces resettlement support to all Service Leavers, regardless of time served. The CTP is a partnering agreement between the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and Right Management Ltd, who are global career development and outplacement specialists and part of the ManpowerGroup. This resettlement provision is designed to help personnel leaving the Armed Forces to prepare for entering the civilian job market and to make a successful transition to employment or achieve the wider vocational outcome they seek. Resettlement support is available from two years prior to leaving and two years after discharge. The provision entitles Service leavers to resettlement support which, depending on their discharge category, includes duty time, financial assistance and access to CTP Services. The CTP provision is individually tailored and includes workshops, seminars, one-to-one career consultancy, resettlement training advice and vocational training, together with job finding support. The latest statistics show that 78% of Service leavers used a billable CTP Service ( Career Transition Partnership ex-service personnel employment outcomes statistics: index - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) ). For those Service leavers looking to transition into civilian employment when leaving the Armed Forces, around 83% are successfully employed within six months of leaving the Armed Forces. Moreover, the satisfaction rates of Service leavers accessing CTP support are typically around 90%.

Ministry of Defence: Travel

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December to Question 97497, how much of the net expenditure of (a) £14,591,140.93 in June 2022, (b) £17,398,688.47 in July 2022 (c) £12,605,818.19 in August 2022, and (d) £17,887,193.99 in September 2022, derived from spending on transactions below £500.

Alex Chalk: The following amounts from the figures cited were derived from spending on transactions below £500:  June-2022July-2022August-2022September-2022Travel combined£6,260,341.44£6,164,605.93£5,131,549.26£7,196,854.08

Ministry of Defence: Vacancies

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2022 to Question 107122 on Ministry of Defence: Vacancies, for what reasons this information is not routinely held centrally; if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of not having an overall view of vacancies within teams; and whether the information on teams within their areas of responsibility is available to Directors General.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The management of the Defence workforce is delegated to the business areas consistent with the agreed Defence Operating model. The rational for a delegated approach to managing vacancies is based on the principle that managers at all levels (including Directors General) are best placed to judge the impact of the gap on the delivery of outputs and, the effectiveness of the mitigations being applied.  Defence has via its Strategic Workforce Planning and other governance mechanisms adequate access to information necessary for centralised planning and other purposes without requiring central visibility of vacancies.

Department for Work and Pensions

Jobcentres: Disability

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 20 September to UIN 48246, when his Department last held discussions with (a) Mind (b) Sense (c) Mencap and (d) the National Autistic Society on training for Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisors.

Guy Opperman: DWP meet with organisations such as Mind, Sense and Mencap regarding learning for Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisors on a regular basis. Since July, we have been working with the National Autistic Society to produce learning products, which will provide improved customer service.

Universal Credit: Deductions

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Universal Credit claimants whose payments were reduced due to a sanction were (a) assessed to have limited capability to work and (b) in receipt if a disabled child element in (i) York and (ii) the UK in each of the last 12 months.

Guy Opperman: This information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate costs.

Jobcentres: Disability

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 September 2022 to Question 48246 on Jobcentres: Disability, whether a forum exists to allow (a) disability charities and (b) other disability organisations to input into training for his Department's (i) Work Coaches and (ii) Disability Employment Advisors.

Guy Opperman: All DWP learning is developed in conjunction with a wide and diverse range of stakeholders including Work Psychologists, external organisations and DWP.

Jobcentres: Local Government

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he will publish a list of local authorities mapped to Jobcentre districts and Jobcentre groups as of 2022.

Guy Opperman: Yes, see attached document.Attachment (pdf, 90.4KB)

Jobcentres: Disability

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to evaluate whether training offered to (a) Work Coaches and (b) Disability Employment Advisors enables them to offer adequate support to jobseekers with disabilities.

Guy Opperman: DWP uses an evaluation strategy to assist in identifying whether learning undertaken by Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers is effective, alongside individual learning needs analysis which enables them to offer adequate support to jobseekers with disabilities. This includes an individual pre-learning assessment, post learning knowledge assessment and regular ongoing learner assessment. This ensures that Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisors have the most up to date knowledge which is accessible to all but is sensitive to everyone’s requirements regardless of abilities/disabilities.

Jobcentres: Disability

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what processes his Department has in place to identify any potential gaps in its training for (a) Work Coaches and (b) Disability Employment Advisors.

Guy Opperman: DWP continuously reviews and revises learning provided as part of an iterative process.

Jobcentres: Disability

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department's training for (a) Disability Employment Advisors and (b) Work Coaches was last (i) reviewed and (ii) revised.

Guy Opperman: The Work Coach Learning was last updated 7th December 2022 and a full review is due to start in January 2023. A full review and revision of Disability Employment Advisors (DEA) Learning was recently completed, and this was published 18th October 2022.

Jobcentres: Disability

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how regularly his Department reviews its training for (a) Disability Employment Advisors and (b) Work Coaches.

Guy Opperman: All Learning for Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers is continuously reviewed and revised as part of an iterative process based on feedback, changes to Policy and Procedures as well as technical system changes. This ensures we provide the latest information in the best possible way to support all our customers.

Jobcentres: Disability

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 September 2022 to Question 48246 on Jobcentres: Disability, if his Department will commit to continued regular engagement with the organisations mentioned in his response on training for (a) Work Coaches and (b) Disability Employment Advisors.

Guy Opperman: All DWP learning for Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers is designed in partnership with Work Psychologists, external organisations such as MIND, (a national charity providing mental health information and support), RNIB, (Royal National Institute of Blind People), SENSE, (a national charity set-up to support people who are deafblind or have other complex disabilities), and National Autistic Society.

Blood: HIV Infection

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Health and Safety Executive has made an assessment of the adequacy of public awareness of how to prevent HIV transmission when handling blood in the context of the (a) concept of undetectable viral loads and (b) use of universal precautions when handling blood products.

Mims Davies: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the regulator for workplace health and safety. HSE has not made an assessment of public awareness of how to prevent HIV transmission when handling blood in the contexts described, as HSE does not regulate public health risks. Public awareness of health issues is a matter for the Department of Health and Social Care, and the UK Health Security Agency, as the lead agency for public health matters.

Blood: Contamination

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reviewing and updating the Health and Safety Executive guidance on blood borne virus transmission.

Mims Davies: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the regulator of workplace health and safety, publishes guidance to assist employers in controlling workplace risk from blood-borneviruses. There are no plans at present to review this guidance. HSE’s approach is led by intelligence to ensure that resources are appropriately allocated to any risk. Should evidence emerge to suggest an increased risk of blood borne virustransmission in the workplace, HSE will consider an appropriate response, which mayinclude a review of existing guidance.

Government Departments: Working Conditions

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if the Government will introduce (a) maximum temperatures and (b) guidance for managers and employees on reasonable indoor temperatures for areas of government buildings where staff are working.

Mims Davies: The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 already place a legal obligation on all employers to make a suitable assessment of the risks to the health and safety of their employees and take action where necessary to minimise those risks as far as reasonably practicable. In addition, the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 place a legal obligation on employers to provide a ‘reasonable’ temperature in indoor workplaces. Detailed guidance including information on how to undertake an assessment and specific measures that can be taken to improve thermal comfort is available on HSE’s website. The Government has no plans to set in law a maximum permitted working temperature. No meaningful upper limit can be imposed because in many indoor workplaces extreme temperature is not seasonal but is created by work activity. In such environments factors other than air temperature, including radiant temperature, humidity and air velocity, become more significant and the interaction between them becomes more complex with rising temperatures. However, it is still possible to work safely provided appropriate controls are present. HSE regularly reviews and, where necessary, refreshes the guidance published on its website.

Jobcentres: Disability

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department takes steps to proactively seek feedback from people with disabilities on their experiences of being supported by (a) Work Coaches and (b) Disability Employment Advisors.

Tom Pursglove: Feedback from customers is an important source of learning for DWP. The Customer Experience Directorate plays a key role in coordinating learning within the department, and the department uses this data to inform decision making.This includes DWP’s Customer Experience Survey, which seeks customer feedback about their experience with DWP. This is a survey of customers who have had recent contact with DWP and includes customers supported by Jobcentre staff.The most recent findings from the survey are available below, and the findings from the 2020/21 survey will be published in due course.DWP claimant service and experience survey 2018 to 2019 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Home Office

Knives: Crime

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help tackle knife crime in the north of London.

Chris Philp: Whilst the Mayor of London has operational responsibility for policing in the north of London and the rest of the capital, this Government is committed to providing additional resources to the police and their partners to tackle violent crime and make our streets safer.To support the prevention of violence in London we have allocated £33.7m since 2019 to the London Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) including a c.£12.6m allocation for this financial year (2022/23), and an additional investment of £5.5m in 2021/22 to deliver specific targeted interventions to vulnerable young people. The London VRU is delivering multiple initiatives with this funding projected to support over 3,200 young people in the capital next year.London VRU has been allocated £50m from the Government Funded Youth Endowment Fund, a £200m fund set up by the Home Office to prevent children and young people at risk of involvement in serious violence and crime. Since 19/20, further £52.6m, including c£8.7m for this financial year (2022/23) has been allocated through the Grip programme to the Metropolitan police to deliver additional patrols in streets and neighbourhoods most affected by violent crime.The Government continues to encourage all police forces to undertake a series of coordinated national weeks of action (with the latest phase between 16 to 22 May) to tackle knife crime under Operation Sceptre. In the Metropolitan and City Police areas, 126 knives were seized during enforcement action with a further 90 being surrendered or seized during preventative weapon removal sweeps to safeguard public spaces.Grip, VRU & YEF funding are provided in addition to the commitment to increase the number of police officers in England and Wales by 20,000 by March 2023. As of 30 September 2022, the Metropolitan Police Service has recruited 3,109 additional uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 4,557 officers. The deployment of all officers is an operational decision for Chief Constables.

Speed Limits: South Yorkshire

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department have taken to ensure (a) South Yorkshire Police and (b) Barnsley Council have an adequate level of resources to reduce incidents of speeding.

Chris Philp: Excess speed is still a major cause of death and serious injury on our roads. Anyone who breaks the speed limit should expect to face proper sanction.The enforcement of speeding offences, including in South Yorkshire, is an operational matter for the discretion of Chief Officers and Police and Crime Commissioners. The force’s Chief Officer will decide how to deploy available resources, taking into account any specific local pressures and demands.The Government is proposing a total police funding settlement of up to £17.2 billion in 2023/24, an increase of up to £287 million when compared to 2022/23. South Yorkshire Police’s funding will be up to £326.1 million in 2023/24, an increase of up to £10.7 million when compared to 2022/23.The Government is delivering on the people’s priorities by recruiting an additional 20,000 police officers. As at 30 September 2022, 15,343 additional uplift officers have been recruited in England and Wales through the Police Uplift Programme, 77% of the target of 20,000 additional officers by March 2023. As at 30 September 2022, South Yorkshire police has recruited 408 additional uplift officers against a total three year allocation of 504 officers. Forces are operationally independent and the deployment of officers remains an operational decision for Chief Constables.Local authorities, including Barnsley Council, are best-placed to make decisions about the services that best meet the needs of their local populations. It is the responsibility of local authorities to commission different kinds of public services which fit local circumstances and priorities.

Asylum: Hotels

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers on local businesses in the (a) hospitality, (b) tourism and (c) entertainment sectors in (i) the UK, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) Birmingham.

Robert Jenrick: For several years, record numbers of people cross the Channel in small boats, and this surge has placed the Home Office’s asylum support infrastructure and accommodation services under immense pressure. In order to meet our statutory obligations to accommodate asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute, we have been forced to temporarily house asylum seekers in hotels. The use of hotels is a short term solution and we are working hard with Local Authorities and our accommodation providers to find more appropriate accommodation.We continue to work collaboratively with Local Authorities through the establishment of multi-agency forums to understand and address operational impacts on local areas. These regular forums include all key stakeholders and have been developed to mitigate and assure the on-going services provision within a local area.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Devolution: Suffolk

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential economic benefits of the Suffolk devolution deal for (a) Suffolk and (b) Ipswich.

Dehenna Davison: The Suffolk devolution deal will put Suffolk County Council, in partnership with Suffolk's district and borough councils, including Ipswich, in control of setting economic strategy locally. The deal will grant Suffolk County Council control of a 30-year investment fund worth £480 million, over £5.8 million to support the building of new homes on Brownfield land, and powers to improve local skills. This will help drive growth and take forward local priorities over the longer term, giving the directly elected leader and local constituent councils more flexibility to decide how best to spend money on key local priorities. Ipswich will be able to take advantage of the overarching benefits of the deal to the whole region and the new relationship between Suffolk and central government.

Regional Planning and Development: Finance

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the next round of Levelling Up funding will be announced.

Dehenna Davison: The Government will announce results of the second round of the Levelling Up Fund by the end of January 2023.

Housing Associations: Birmingham

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the potential impact of a (a) three, (b) five and (c) seven per cent cap on social housing rents would have on housing associations in Birmingham.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an estimate of trends in the level of services charges in the housing association sector in each of the last five years; and what impact service charge inflation has had on social housing tenants in Birmingham.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment has he made of the adequacy of the audit policies governing registered providers of social housing; and whether he is taking steps to ensure that registered providers who are found to have (a) overcharged, (b) double-charged, (c) charged for phantom services and (d) made other errors award compensation to tenants and residents.

Dehenna Davison: The Department does not hold information on service charges for all tenants in the social sector.The Government strongly believes that service charges should be transparent and communicated effectively. The Government believes that there should be a clear route to challenge or redress if things go wrong.As announced at the Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022, an increase in the cap on social housing rents has been set at 7% for 2023-24. This followed the consultation we carried out last year, which is available here. We published an Impact Assessment alongside the consultation and will publish a final Impact Assessment in due course.

Housing Associations

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to make provisions as part of the Social Housing Regulation Bills to ensure residents of small housing associations receive an adequate service from their landlords.

Dehenna Davison: The Social Housing (Regulation) Bill is currently in the House of Commons. The Bill will facilitate the creation of a new proactive consumer regulation regime, ensuring the Regulator of Social Housing is able to drive up service delivery to tenants and take effective action against those providers who are not delivering the required outcomes for their tenants. All registered providers, regardless of their size, will continue to be required to comply with the relevant regulatory standards. All providers will also be required to report on a set of Tenant Satisfaction Measures, enabling tenants to see how their landlord is performing and hold them to account.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of council-owned homes with garages that have electric vehicle charging points.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the demand for inclusion of electric vehicle charging points in council-owned homes with garages (a) now and (b) in the future.

Lee Rowley: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities does not collect this data. The Department for Transport regularly publishes monthly and quarterly electric vehicle charging infrastructure statistics. These are available here.

Private Rented Housing: Birmingham

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the affordability of rents in the private rental sector in Birmingham.

Felicity Buchan: The most recent English Housing Survey (EHS) found that on average households in the private rented sector spent 33% of their income on rent in 2021-22. Due to sample size, the EHS cannot give robust information on Birmingham specifically.The Department continues to monitor private rented sector market data, including for Birmingham.

Homes for Ukraine Scheme: Homelessness

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of the number of former Homes for Ukraine participants that are homeless.

Felicity Buchan: This information is available online and can be accessed here .

Homelessness: Homosexuality

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many households were entitled to the (a) Prevention and (b) Relief Duty where the lead applicant was lesbian or gay and aged 16-25 in (i) 2020-2021 (ii) 2021-2022.

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many households were entitled to the (a) Prevention and (b) Relief Duty where the lead applicant was (i) transgender and (ii) non-binary in 2021-2022.

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many households were entitled to the (a) Prevention and (b) Relief Duty where the lead applicant was lesbian or gay, aged 16-25 and from a minority ethnic background in (i) 2020-2021 and (ii) 2021-2022.

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities,  how many households were entitled to the (a) Prevention and (b) Relief Duty due to domestic abuse where the lead applicant was lesbian or gay and aged 16-25 in (i) 2020-2021 (ii) 2021-2022.

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many households were entitled to the (a) Prevention and (b) Relief Duty due to domestic abuse where the lead applicant was lesbian or gay, aged 16-25 and from a minority ethnic background in (i) 2020-2021 (ii) 2021-2022.

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many households were entitled to the (a) Prevention and (b) Relief Duty due to domestic abuse where the lead applicant was lesbian or gay in (i) 2020-2021 (ii) 2021-2022.

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many households were entitled to the (a) Prevention and (b) Relief Duty where the lead applicant was 16-25 and from a minority ethnic background in (i) 2020-2021 (ii) 2021-2022.

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle homelessness among LGBTQ+ young people aged 16-25.

Felicity Buchan: Homelessness Statistics for 2020-21 are available here and 2021-22 are available here. These include data on the sexual identity and ethnicity of the main applicant owed statutory homelessness prevention and relief duties.The department does not publish data on domestic abuse based on sexual or gender identification.

Refugees: Ukraine

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the press release by his Department entitled New over £650 million support package for Ukrainians sees increased thank you payments for longer-term hosts, published on 14 December 2022, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing similar financial support to people hosting Ukrainian refugees under the Ukraine Family Scheme.

Felicity Buchan: Further to the answer given to Question UIN 59054 on the 13 October 2022, the Home Office is responsible for the operation of the Ukraine Family Scheme.

Property Management Companies: Regulation

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has taken steps to implement the recommendations of the Regulation of Property Agents: working group report, published 18 July 2019.

Lucy Frazer: As part of a fair and just housing system, the Government is committed to making sure that homeowners and tenants are protected from abuse and poor service. This commitment includes raising professionalism and standards amongst property agents (letting, estate and managing agents), protecting consumers while defending the reputation of good agents from the actions of rogue operatives. We therefore welcome the ongoing work being undertaken by the industry itself to raise professionalism and standards across the sector, including on codes of practice for property agents.The Government is considering the recommendations in the final report on the regulation of property agents from Lord Best’s working group. We will continue to work with industry on improving best practice.

Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether it is his Department's policy that government procurement cards should not be used for purchases (a) of alcohol and (b) that could be made via an alternative compliant purchasing route.

Alex Burghart: The Pan-government procurement card policy does not itself prohibit the purchase of alcohol using a procurement card; however it does state that procurement cards must never be used to make purchases contrary to departments’ strategies and purchasing policies.Guidance is provided to departments on the consumption of alcohol in the workplace and departments must ensure that they have policies in place to implement this.

Department for International Trade

Economic Cooperation: South Carolina

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her Department plans to publish an assessment of the impact of the Memorandum of understanding on cooperation and trade relations between South Carolina and the UK on the economy.

Greg Hands: This Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) seeks to bolster an already strong trading relationship, with South Carolina importing £1.4bn of UK goods in 2021. It lays the foundation for closer collaboration in priority sectors such as life sciences and automotives. The MoU provides a framework to boost trade and investment, including by sharing expertise, organising trade missions, and addressing market access barriers. The Government will monitor activities and outcomes of the MoU through a bilateral working group, and plans to publish an update following the first meeting of this group.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2022 to Question 107078 on Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution, how many purchases with a value less than £500 were made against her Department’s budget through a Government procurement card in 2021.

Julia Lopez: In accordance with the Answer of 19 December 2022 to Question 107078, the Department made 572 transactions for the purchase of goods and services with a value less than £500, using a Government Procurement Card.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s publication of Government procurement card spending over £500 for November 2022, what the (a) nature and (b) purpose was of the taxi services for which Imperial Transportation was paid £952.02 on 17 November 2022.

Julia Lopez: The taxi services of Imperial Transportation were procured to transport officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, over 250 miles during a visit to Ottawa and Montreal, Canada for a UK-Canada Public Policy Forum. This was on the official advice of the High Commission in Ottawa, as no government cars were available and the use of public transport was impractical.